


First Dates Are Tough

by endlessgoldensky



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: First Dates, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28076724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endlessgoldensky/pseuds/endlessgoldensky
Summary: Curly has asked Pony on a date.
Relationships: Ponyboy Curtis/Curly Shepard
Kudos: 22





	First Dates Are Tough

**Author's Note:**

> a request from a mutual on tumblr

Winter was probably the worst time to date. Everyone was expecting that nothing would lead to something. No one wanted a fling just someone to keep the bed warm.  
Curly happened to be one of those people. He would never admit it but the idea of cuddling someone in front of a fire wasn’t the worst thing in the world.  
Curly wasn’t a shy guy, in fact he was one of the loudest boys around. He never had trouble with dating and certainly didn’t have trouble with asking but something was different this time. Maybe it was the fact that he liked a boy, or the fact that he grew up with him or it was the fact that gangs were rivals, in a sense.  
Maybe it was because it was his first real date with a boy. Specifically Ponyboy Curtis. Ponyboy and Curly were two sides of the same coin. Ponyboy loved books, movies, and he wanted more that what he had. Curly liked fighting, hair gel, and took what he got with stride.  
Curly never really saw himself with someone like him. He had always figured he’d die before he settled down or found a nice girl to shack up with but he was getting ready for a date with a boy who up until a day ago probably wouldn’t cared if Curly had died.  
Curly never dressed nice, never except for tonight. Ponyboy wasn’t anyone special the only difference was he liked the kid for more that his looks. He liked how he was smart and knew about everything. He liked how his hair fell in his face after a track meet. He liked him. So he wanted to look a little nicer for once, sue him.  
Curly arrived at the diner five minutes early so he could get his favorite booth. A cozy little spot at the back with an ample view of the kitchen. He sat on the side facing the door so he could see Pony come in. He ordered their drinks for them just before Pony came in looking very nervous and slightly nauseous.  
Curly stood up and called out Ponyboy’s name, smiling when Pony spotted him. Pony made his way to Curly and gave him a half smile as he played with his fingers.  
“You l-look... nice,” Pony muttered, hiding his face as he sat down.  
“Oh uh you too, Pone,” Curly replied, his cheeks rosy.  
He wiped his hands on his jeans suddenly noticing how clammy they felt.  
“I um I ordered your drink. The uh milkshake that you like. I know it’s winter but-“  
“Thanks,” Pony cut him off.  
Curly nodded his head and Pony kept his down. Curly didn’t know why tonight felt so weird they had always been able to talk to each other. And if they ran out of things to talk about the silence was normally comfortable. Tonight is was painfully awkward. They remained silent as the waitress came over with their drinks, only talking when she asked what they wanted to eat. When she walked away Curly tried to get some conversation out of Ponyboy.  
“So, what’s going?” He asked biting his lip.  
Pony shrugged and took a sip of his milkshake.  
“Oh yeah me too,” Curly attempted a joke but it just flew over Pony’s head.  
“Anything new in the world of Pony Curtis?”  
Pony answered this time, “No. Nothings new. It’s just like it was yesterday.”  
Curly laughed quietly. Pony rose an eyebrow and looked at Curly like he was an idiot. Curly shook his head and sat back in his booth. He laid his head back and looked out the window. Why was this so hard, he had been out on dates with plenty of girls and a few guys here and there but none of them had been this bad.  
Ponyboy was slowly drinking his shake and chewing on the straw. He had his arms on the table and held the bottom of the shake with one hand while holding straw with his other forefinger and thumb. He would look up at Curly every few seconds, only keeping his eyes on him for so long. His cheeks grew more red with each look. He looked up one more time only to see a pair of eyes staring back at him. He choked slightly on his drink and pulled away from the table. He coughed a few times before taking a sip of some water the waitress had brought over during the silence.  
“Holy shit are you okay?” Curly asked.  
“Yeah, yeah.” Pony answered through coughs.  
Curly ran a hand over his hair and smiled sheepishly. “Shoot, I’m sorry man, didn’t mean to scare ya.”  
Pony shook his head, “It’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting ya to look at me. Especially not like th-“  
“Like this.” Curly was sitting in the same position as before but this time with a smirk.  
Ponyboy swallowed and nodded, his entire face and neck were as red as the booth. The waitress came over then with their food and smiled down at both of them.  
“Young love,” she muttered under her breath.  
Curly cleared his throat and grabbed his utensils as Pony excused himself to the bathroom.  
Pony stood in front of the mirror and smacked his face a couple of times. He was flopping hard. He knew going into this that it would be awkward but he figured eventually it was feel like a regular old day and that they would end up either playing football or making out.  
He talked himself up, washed his hands, and headed back out. He sat down and began to eat. Curly was about halfway done with his and was on his second refill. He took a moment between bites to try and make some more conversation.  
“I uh saw your running thing last week. You did good.”  
Pony looked up with astonishment, “You came to my last track meet?”  
Curly nodded, “I went to all those things,” and with some sudden courage he leaned forward and whispered, “You looked cute in those shorts.” He finished off with a wink before going back to eating.  
Pony’s eyes widened and he swallowed the lump of food in his mouth. He was suddenly very insecure of his legs and where they were. He looked under the table and brought his legs to him, crossing his ankles.  
The rest of the dinner was spent in mostly silence, with the occasional comment. Curly had ended up with ketchup on his shirt and Pony spilled his coke everywhere but that was the worst of it. Curly paid the check.  
Curly was licking his thumb and rubbing at the stain on his shirt.  
“Stop, you’re gonna make it worse.” Pony said, pulling Curly’s hand away from his chest.  
Curly quickly pulled his hand away and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Pony looked down at the ground and kicked a few rocks as they walked. They had taken the back way to Ponyboy’s, Curly’s idea. Curly was determined to not let this date end badly and he figured, a nice walk in the dim moonlight might help.  
He sighed and took a hand out of his pocket. He grabbed Pony’s and held it tight without saying a word. Pony looked over at him and tried to say something but nothing came out so he just looked back at the ground.  
Curly stopped walking and pulled Pony to a stop as well.  
“Huh. What?”  
“Pone, do you or do you not like me?” Curly asked all of sudden.  
Pony laughed, “I mean yeah.”  
Curly pulled Pony closer, “I don’t think you heard me. Do you or do you not like me?”  
Pony felt his heart racing and he was sure Curly’s was too, “I do like you Curly. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”  
Pony stared straight into Curly’s eyes as he spoke. Curly bit his lip as he listened. He nodded when Pony ended and let go of his hand.  
“Good, good.”  
Pony sighed and placed his hand on Curly’s face. He leaned forward and pecked Curly on his cheek.  
“Just take me home please.”  
Curly now as red as a pepper nodded and grabbed Pony’s hand again.


End file.
